Latest Stories

Derek Hughes might insult your mother during his magic show Insomnia, which he performs at the Hotel Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica. Assuming you bring your mother to the show, there's a distinct possibility that he will pick her out of the audience and (lovingly) mock her, as he...

It's crazy that magic tricks dating back hundreds and even thousands of years have no expiration date. The three solid silver rings slip apart and slide through one another, the rabbit gets pulled from a hat, the lady gets shot from a cannon but reappears 45 feet away in a...

On Friday at 9:09 p.m., a crowd of roughly 140 people gathered inside the old, rickety Church on York in Highland Park while a 5.1 magnitude earthquake reverberated across L.A. By all appearances, most didn't feel a thing - they were too busy waiting for the Invocation to begin. The one-night-only public event uncovered the...

You don't practice Santeria? You ain't got no crystal ball? Actually, you don't need one -- instead, the botanicas that sell spell-casting Santeria charms specialize in candles, soaps, incense and body splashes, small tokens that perfume your home and body with musk while imbuing you with magic. The folk religion...

"I'm the busiest human being on earth," says Teller, and that is startling whether it's true or not. You don't expect anything -- let alone such bold assertions -- from someone who rarely speaks on camera, a man who has built his reputation as the soundless, mysterious half of the...

Fr. Jim Blantz was busy this past Sunday. At 8:30 a.m., Blantz presided over Mass, wrapping up a three-week stint filling in at Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Less than seven hours later, Blantz was beginning his class in Hollywood. But Blantz wasn't teaching Sunday School. The...